Press Freedom Index

Reporters Without Borders

Provide a snapshot of the state of press freedoms in a 12 month period (September – September).

Reporters without borders is an association which raises funds through a variety of activities. No external funding is provided for the press freedom index.

The index aims to measure the state of press freedom in the world reflecting the degree of freedom journalists and news organisations enjoy in each country, and the efforts made by the state to respect and ensure respect for this freedom. The index is used as an advocacy tool to raise awareness of the limits on press freedoms around the world, and their impact on democracy, freedom of information and also the lives of journalists.

Questionnaire survey of media actors within countries.

The index covers 166 worldwide.

Reporters sans frontieres
5, rue Geoffroy-Marie
75009 Paris - France
Tel. 33 1 44 83 84 84
Fax. 33 1 45 23 11 51
index@rsf.org

Each country covered by the index has a ranking and a score which together sum up the state of press freedom there. A country can change rank from year to year even if its score stays the same, and vice-versa. It is based solely on events between 1 September 2005 and 1 September 2006. It does not look at human rights violations in general, just press freedom violations. Reporters Without Borders compiled a questionnaire with 50 criteria for assessing the state of press freedom in each country. It includes different kinds of violations directly affecting journalists (such as murders, imprisonment, physical attacks and threats) and news media (censorship, confiscation of issues, searches and harassment). It registers the degree of impunity enjoyed by those responsible for such violations and tries to capture the legal situation affecting the news media (such as penalties for press offences, the existence of a state monopoly in certain areas and the existence of a regulatory body) and the behaviour of the authorities towards the state-owned news media and the foreign press. It also takes account of the main obstacles to the free flow of information on the Internet. The questionnaire was sent to partner organisations of Reporters Without Borders (14 freedom of expression groups in five continents) and its 130  correspondents around the world, as well as to journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. A scale devised by the organisation was then used to give a country-score to each questionnaire. The Statistics Institute of the University of Paris provided assistance and advice in processing the data reliably and thoroughly.
The 168 countries ranked are those for which they received completed questionnaires from a number of independent sources. Others were not included because of a lack of credible data. Where countries tied, they are listed in alphabetical order.

Note that the organisation also produces the Press Freedom Barometer, which details other areas of interest concerning press freedoms. It provides a running total of Journalists killed, Media assistants killed, Journalists imprisoned, Media assistants imprisoned and Cyber-dissidents imprisoned.

The index is compiled specifically to defend press freedoms. No assessment is made, or implied within the rankings concerning the quality of press.

The index assumes that state owned media limit press freedoms. This assumption is common to most indices of press freedoms. This particular index asks about both
state ownership and state monopolisation of media. Monopolisation is clearly a stronger deterrent than mere ownership.